Posted August 10, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Planning Tips | 3 comments »
Welcome to my new favorite office supply: shredder scissors.
I had no idea such a thing even existed until I went to the MoMA store to pick up a Muji file box and saw this pair among the desk accessories. In the end, I opted for a cheaper model on Amazon, and I am very happy with the purchase.
The idea is pretty straightforward — there are 5 parallel blades that cut thin strips as you close the scissors.
Obviously, it’s not something you’d want to use to shred a 60-page document. But it’s absolutely ideal for shredding things like credit card solicitations and whatever other scraps of paper you want to keep private. (Which is great if, like me, you’ve chucked your big electric shredder deep into your basement since it takes up too much space in your office.)
I imagine there are also plenty of crafting applications if you wanted to fringe the edge of a card, or even make your own confetti.
Posted March 1, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Pens, Paper & People | 3 comments »
Karen sent me a few sheets of Clairefontaine DCP paper in the fall. DCP (which stands for “Digital Color Printing”) is a thick, white, glossy, A4 printer paper, and it’s apparently designed for printing photographs and other color graphics. It comes in ivory, too, and can also be used, Karen told me, for bookmaking.
I don’t have a color printer, and I haven’t tried to make a book since the 3rd or 4th grade. Frankly, I found the A4 size a little awkward at first, since it’s thinner and longer than standard American paper and didn’t really fit into any of my binders. So I stuck it in a folder and forgot about it until this weekend, when I needed to customize an old tea box for a present and didn’t have time to go out and get the proper supplies.
DCP, it turned out, was just the thing for the job. I wanted something I could write on (so decoupage was out), but I also needed paper that was thick enough to hide the images on the box I was reusing:
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Posted December 30, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Pens, Paper & People | 4 comments »
I picked up a box of paperclips last week in Germany; for no good reason other than aesthetics—and a dash of nostalgia for the time I used to live there—I prefer their pointy tips to the rounded versions that are standard in the US.
It’s a funny thing, nostalgia. Obviously, that period of my life was much richer than a simple office product, and I don’t have any specific memories associated with paperclips in particular. But I still find comfort in the quotidian reminder of a thoroughly mundane object, something I can integrate into my everyday routine and think about more frequently than I would, say, look at my photo album, or reread the fragmentary journal that I kept back then. It’s a more meaningful relationship, I guess. And now that I’ve replenished my supply, I can use them with abandon, and without fear of running out anytime soon!
